Are you a New Home Buyer and need a down payment?

This awesome program has been around for a few years, but still seems to be a secret, or simply has been forgotten about. One reason may be because during Covid and the severe price increases in Nova Scotia made it all but impossible to use the program. The program allowed new Home Buyers with a household income of $74,000 or less, to apply for down payment funds for a home purchase of no more than $300,000. If you lived here through the mayhem, you know that finding a home for under $300,000 quickly became an unlikely task.  Fortunately since then, the program has been updated to more appropriate amounts given the current market conditions.  

The loans provided are interest-free over a 10-year period, and must be used for a down payment. This means they cannot be used for financing or closing related costs, just the down payment.  There's also a max of $25,000 granted or basically exactly 5% of $500,000.  Why 500K? Well, that's part of the good news!  With  the increased value in our market, the government made some welcomed adjustments to the applicant criteria.  

Here's a look at some of the updated requirements for applying:

• Must be pre-approved for an insured mortgage by a recognized financial institution
• Be a first-time home buyer
• Have household income of less than $145,000
• Have been residing in Nova Scotia for at least 12 months
• Does not have the financial ability to pay 5% of the purchase price of the property without assistance of the program.
• The property must be located in Nova Scotia and is the principal residence of the applicant.
• In the case of mobile homes they permanently affixed to a property owned by the applicant.
• The purchase price can not exceed the following:
  • $500,000 in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), and East Hants
  • $300,000 in Northern and Eastern regions (Cumberland, Colchester, Pictou, Antigonish, Guysborough, Cape Breton, and including Yarmouth)
  • $375,000 in Annapolis Valley, West Hants, and the South Shore

So, as you can see, this opens the doors to way more people. Not just the home purchase value increase but the household income changes will make it so that many more are eligible. I for one will be pushing this program out as much as possible. 

For the complete details on the program as well as the application forms click the link below;
https://housing.novascotia.ca/downpayment